I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you (John 15: 15b-16a)
Okay, so you caught us... It’s been a week since we last posted. Some how the blogging is starting to seem rather anticlimactic, but it has been an important part of keeping friends and family updated, as well as maintaining somewhat of a diary of this process from our perspective.
Tuesday night we said “Poka” to some people who have been very important to us in the adoption process. The abridged version of Wednesday is that we are now in Kiev waiting for the I-600 to get processed through the Omaha USCIS office and the National Visa Center in New Hampshire.
The Swinney family has been a source of positive energy for everyone, despite some of their frustrations; many of which have mirrored many previous adoptions.
Martha and I have developed this… How shall I put it? Common bond… and this addiction to Skype.
I for one am a night owl, and during a normal workweek, function on about 5 hours of sleep a night. This feeds my Sunday nap time. While we were back in the States for the holidays, I would spend my late nights checking company e-mails, power web surfing, and whatever project du jour I have in my inbox; and would periodically check Skype just to see who is on and to say ‘Hi’ to whoever is out there…
Somehow it never failed that I have caught the Swinneys logged in to Skype, so I just can’t resist… And we start in.. Topics of discussion range from current events to weather to general frustrations with the whole adoption process. Always light-hearted, always fun, and always dogging me about being up at 1 a.m. CST (‘Go to bed’ / ‘Yes, Mother’ / ‘Your Majesty will suffice’ / ‘whatever’…). And being the nice guy that I am, my “Mule” bundle was increased by a handful of games… The Swinneys are the type of friends you don’t mind doing a little extra for so I really didn’t mind.
Upon our return, we thought we had sunk to a new low… First off… EVERYONE has a cell phone, so two or three time daily chats aren’t uncommon… Second, we live across the courtyard from each other, so if we needed to, we would run down the stairs, across the courtyard, up the stairs and crash the other’s party and it’s fun.
Just so happens, the other day I was on Skype with our daughter Kelsey and who happens to pop up on skype… So the chat room begins again, talking about English lessons, how the others are doing, has anyone heard from Michelle, etc… After two or three episodes, Mari reminded me that they’re just across the courtyard, why not run over there?
“True, but, this is quicker…”
“You’re pathetic!”
“I’ve been called worse…”
Followed by “Don’t tell anyone how pathetic we are by skyping when we could just walk across the courtyard or yell from the balcony.”
“But we really are, and besides, one day we will all look back at this and laugh.”
We progressed further in to our pathetic ways the day I accidentally hit the “Call” button on Skype… and Martha returned the call…
(As the video comes on) “Don’t tell Mari this, but we’ve reached a new low in our Skyping”
(Mari is sitting on the bed and out of camera view) “Too late…”
At least from Kiev, we’ve elevated from pathetic to a more acceptable version of just plain sad… And we still have our friends.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment